Chief Martin Onovo, a seasoned activist and politician, is the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP). Currently, the Head, Policy Positions, Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), Onovo, who is an oils sector expert, in this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, speaks on closure of schools by some state governments over the Ramadan, Senate handling of the sexual harassment allegation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio, among other crucial issues. Excerpt:
What is your take on closure of schools in some states in the North due to the Ramadan? To what extent do you think religion and culture should be allowed to influence national life?
First, there was religion with the creation of Adam and Eve. Then, culture, from culture, we establish our laws. So, religion and culture naturally dictate the laws. In Nigeria, we see the laws as very clear. According to our laws, there is no state religion. Therefore, freedom of religion and religious tolerance is required. The closure of schools in some northern states for Ramadan is unpatriotic, unlawful and oppressive. Unpatriotic because, education is critical to national development and the closure subverts the education of our citizens. Unlawful, because it violates our laws. Oppressive, because it is imposed and undemocratic. Also, it is not the practice. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has threatened to go to court to reverse the closure. It must be reversed.
What is your take on the Supreme Court ruling on the crisis in Rivers State?
We have previously published in 2023 that the Supreme Court initiated the complete collapse of the country with the 2023 presidential election judgment. We maintain that position. In 2024, HE Chief (Dr.) Obasanjo, a former President of Nigeria, publicly confirmed that the country was in ‘near collapse’. This judgment now follows the same trend, pushing the country further to a complete collapse. The judgment has been rejected by the people of the Niger Delta, including Ijaw National Congress (INC), Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) and Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF). In our interpretation of the law, the Rivers State Local Government elections nullified by the Supreme Court showed more “substantial compliance” to the law than the 2023 presidential election fraud upheld by the same Supreme Court. This Supreme Court has been completely rubbished by its own judgments. According to the Hon. Justice Datijo Muhammed, ex-Deputy Chairman of the National Judicial Commission (NJC), “It has been in the public space that court officials and judges are easily bribed by litigants”. According to Fola Ojo, “the Nigerian judiciary is tainted with avarice, greed, and graft”. Dr. Oby Ezekwesili spoke of “The rottenness of our judiciary”. According to Ambassador John Campbell, “A judiciary notorious for accepting bribes and awarding favourable rulings to the highest bidder”. According to Dr. Olu Fasan, Ph.D., “Judges are the biggest bribe takers”. According to Dr. Farooq Kperogi, Ph.D., “Nigeria’s Supreme Court is, without a doubt, a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits. The highest bidder gets their judgement”.
What do you think should be done for real peace to be restored in Rivers State?
The Tinubu civilian dictatorship must be constrained by the people. The people are the constitutional sovereign. This is becausea dictatorship is above the law and cannot be constrained by the law.
How do you see the recent melodrama in the Lagos House of Assembly where an impeached speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, was brought back to office?
That is evidence that we have a civilian dictatorship and the position of the majority is irrelevant. The dictator overrides the majority. You saw the abuse of power with the misuse of law enforcement officers.
What does the Lagos House of Assembly crisis tell you about politics and governance in Lagos?
There is crisis in the Lagos House of Assembly. Lagos State is Tinubu’s state of residence where he was a governor. There is crisis in Osun State. Osun State is Tinubu’s state of origin. There is crisis in Rivers State. Rivers State is one of the states where Tinubu lost the election woefully like in Lagos and Osun States, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chose to publish fraudulent results. These facts point to the source and motive behind the crisis.
What is your take on the sexual harassment allegation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan?
First, sexual harassment is common in Nigeria. The Senate President should have stepped aside for the Deputy Senate President to preside over the Senate until the matter is transparently investigated and concluded. The facts claimed by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan clearly suggest sexual harassment. She claimed her listed motion was removed and her seat was improperly reassigned. The gang up against her by some ‘Senators’ to suspend her also suggests guilty conscience and an unscrupulous attempt to kill the allegations oppressively. That is not acceptable to us even as subjugated citizens.
A cross section of Nigerians is calling on Godswill Akpabio to step aside to allow for proper investigation of the sexual harassment allegation against him. Do you think this is necessary?
Senator Akpabio has disgracefully set himself up as a judge in his own case. He is a lawyer and knows that he cannot be the judge in his own case. He is the accused. So, he cannot preside over the case. All the decisions of the Senate on the matter, including the suspension must be nullified.
What is your take on the coming Anambra State governorship election? Would you say the time has come for power to change hands to another political party in the state? If so, which party should be considered by the people?
Governance in Nigeria is constitutionally social democratic. So, all the parties are similar as they all have social democratic ideologies in line with the Constitution. The difference in governance is not made by the party, but by the person in office. Therefore, Anambra State voters must select the best candidate with regards to ethical integrity, vision and competence.
There is ongoing crisis over the proposed Abia Airport over the large expanse of land earmarked for the project. How do you think the state government should resolve the issue with the land owners who want the government to leave sufficient area for them to live and farm?
There must be a design for the airport. The design will surely indicate the size of land required. The Abia State government must find a suitable site where the environmental impact of the project is minimal. The constitutional purpose of government in Nigeria is the security and welfare of the people. Government must make the lives of the people better and not put people in peril. That is the moral and constitutional criterion.
As an oil sector stakeholder, how do you see the recent reduction of petrol price to N860 per litre first by Dangote Refinery and later by NNPCL?
NNPCL is owned and controlled by the Nigerian government. NNPCL is very dysfunctional because the Tinubu regime is very dysfunctional. The dysfunctional NNPC ruined its own four refineries, corruptly wasted billions of FOREX Dollars on failed refinery rehabilitation projects and then, senselessly resorts to importing PMS with public resources to engage the domestic Dangote refinery in a price war. That is incompetent, unpatriotic and destructive to the Nigerian economy. It directly subverts our GDP. The NNPCL, if it is purposeful, should fix its own domestic refineries and then, it can engage Dangote refinery in a price war and boost our national economy with domestic production. The NNPCL has become destructive to the Nigerian economy.
By EJIKEME OMENAZU @INDEPENDENT
